In 60 seconds: Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in history to vote in a U.S. general election, submitting a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of Tuesday's midterms — a civic habit he kept up even as he faced lung cancer surgery.
- The Vatican confirmed October 30 that Pope Leo XIV submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago for the November 3 midterms.
- He is the first pope ever to vote in a U.S. general election — and likely the first to vote in any secular democratic election.
- Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, he is registered in Will County at his brother John's address in New Lenox.
- He requested the ballot on October 3 — ten days before surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung.
- Illinois lists him as "undeclared"; his primary ballots split both ways, and his general-election choices are secret.
Pope Leo XIV on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after his election on May 8, 2025. Photo: Edgar Beltrán / The Pillar, via Wikimedia Commons
For nearly 2,000 years, popes have crowned kings, advised presidents and shaped history — but as far as anyone can tell, none of them ever actually voted. That changed on Friday, when the Vatican confirmed that Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff, has cast a ballot in an American election: the first pope in history to do what millions of ordinary citizens do every November.
It's a small, almost boring act. That's exactly what makes it remarkable.
What happened
On October 30, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Leo XIV has submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the November 3 midterms. The Holy See put it plainly: Leo "has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen whenever he was eligible to do so," and "in keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, [he] has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago."
The news first broke through the Chicago Sun-Times, citing the chief of staff at the Will County clerk's office: Leo remains registered at his brother John's address in New Lenox, Illinois, and requested the ballot on October 3. The Vatican added that he "expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes."
Latest verified facts
The timing tells you something about the man. He requested that ballot on October 3 — ten days before October 13 surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung. Released from hospital on October 17, he has been slowly resuming activities since. Whatever else was on his mind that week, voting was already handled.
How the ballot got back to Illinois is a mystery the Vatican hasn't solved — it is unclear how Leo returned it. One detail has fueled the guessing: his brother John was in the Vatican on Wednesday with pilgrims from St. Jude's Parish in New Lenox for a meeting with the pope. Whether John carried anything home, nobody is saying.
Leo's voting record is public, and it doesn't fit a tidy partisan story. Illinois doesn't register voters by party, so the man born Robert Francis Prevost is listed as "undeclared." Since 2000, he requested Democratic primary ballots twice (2008, 2010) and Republican ones three times (2012, 2014, 2016), and voted in every general election since 2000 except 2020 and 2022, including 2024. Primary ballots don't reveal his candidates — and general-election ballots are secret.
Why it matters
British historian Michael Walsh told CNN that Leo is likely the first pope to vote in a secular democratic election at all. "I don't think popes have ever voted in a democratic election before," he said. It makes sense: the pope is head of state of the Holy See, an absolute monarchy that holds no elections, and for most of history popes simply weren't citizens of democracies.
Leo is different: the first American pope, elected in May 2025, he kept U.S. citizenship alongside Peruvian citizenship from 20-plus years as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru — where, the Vatican says, he voted whenever eligible too. His ballot isn't a political statement. It's a habit, kept across continents and careers.
Impact on the USA and the world
Illinois voters on Tuesday are deciding a U.S. Senate seat left open by Dick Durbin's retirement, plus the governor's race, where JB Pritzker seeks a third term, along with House, state and county contests. CNN reports Leo's ballot is expected to include the Senate and governor races, though one outlet notes it remains unclear whether an overseas citizen's ballot would be federal-only. That detail is unresolved; the headline stands.
For American Catholics, the symbolism lands differently than any encyclical: the most visible Catholic on earth just did the most ordinary democratic thing there is. Leo met Pritzker at the Vatican in November 2025, but nothing suggests his vote is anything but his own business. A secret ballot is secret even for a pope.
Read our earlier coverage: The First American Pope Just Lost Part of His Lung to Cancer — and the Vatican Is Waiting on the Tests That Decide Everything and 2.8 Million Georgians Already Voted — a Midterm Record With Election Day Still to Come.
Pope Leo XIV during an audience with the media on May 12, 2025. Photo: Edgar Beltrán / The Pillar, via Wikimedia Commons
What happens next
Here's the thing: nobody will ever know how he voted, and that's precisely as it should be. Speculation will swirl over the ballot's journey home, but the Vatican has said all it needs to say.
What lasts is the precedent: the next American pope won't break new ground by voting — Leo already did. For a church that spent centuries keeping its leaders above ordinary politics, a pope quietly casting a ballot might be the most human thing this papacy has done yet.
A pope voted — the same way he always has: as a citizen, on time, even in the week before major surgery. That's not a revolution. It's a reminder.
Sources: The Vatican / Holy See press office (confirmation and civic-participation statement, via CNN and AP reporting); Chicago Sun-Times (Will County clerk's office, October 3 ballot request, New Lenox registration); CNN (Michael Walsh quote, expected Senate and governor races); Illinois State Board of Elections records via AP (primary ballot history, "undeclared" status).